Requies
by Katadenza
Summary: Or, In Which The Two Enjoy a Good Day, a Day Some Might Argue Was Their Very Last. "The rains were over, they were finally over." A fanfiction of the Evillious Chronicles created by Mothy/AkunoP.


**Author's Note:** This is the embodiment of hubris.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, it's more like a "rage, rage, against the dying of the light", thing. Or a "drinking party at the end of the world thing". Both. Neither. I don't know.

OSS novel's out in the world. What's exactly in it, I don't know. But right now we (the English speaking fandom, at least) are in that weird liminal space between the novel release and the inevitable translations, a short, unreal, arguably _terrifying_ period of time where you know everything you once assumed is probably proven false but you just don't _know_ yet, like a molten drop of candle wax, slowly solidifying.

I've written two headcanon fics before this one, each assuming that the novel was coming immediately after. But now that it's literally being infomined, this is the REAL DEAL. It's not perfect (after all, nothing is), and written in a bit of a panicked rush, but it's all I got.

It's been seven years since Project Ma came out. I had come up with a LOOOT of assumptions in that time. A lot of worldbuildling. A lot of characterization. For Adam and Eve, especially, one of the few last true blank slates in EC as mothy slowly started filling everything else in. And now, the reckoning day has come and gone. I have plans, of course, for many MANY future fics using these assumptions, and they're still coming out (eventually). Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to just throw them all away, but soon I can no longer call them plausibly canon. The age of frolicking in those blank spaces is ending.

I guess I just wanted you to see them. Adam and Eve, as I envisioned them. Before canon sets in stone. One last time.

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Today was a good day, Eve decided.

She couldn't give a single reason why today just _felt_ like a good day. Maybe it was the sun, its beams painting golden stripes on the sheets. The cool wind, smelling like earth and just the faintest hint of sea salt, tousling her hair as it blew in through the window beside their bed. The sound of eggs frying... that was Adam, probably trying to give her more reasons to wake up. That explained why she couldn't feel his warmth next to her.

Eve buried her face in the pillow. She supposed she _could_ sleep in until Adam came to get her, which was extremely tempting, but she did that every other day. Today, on the other hand, was a good day. Propping herself up on her elbows and wiping her eyes, she looked outside. The forest was peaceful and inviting, the sun bright and yellow in the near-cloudless sky, casting dappled shadows on the ground through the forest canopy. A far cry from the rainy weather of the days before.

Maybe she'd surprise him.

He was chopping up spring onions on the kitchen table, humming a small nonsense song. If Eve strained her ears hard enough, she could just barely catch the words "denaturing" and "saturated fat", which she couldn't help but smile at. His back was turned as she snuck towards him, keeping her steps light. She pounced, and Adam's song turned into a high-pitched squeak as she hugged him around the middle. The knife dropped with a clatter.

He turned to hug her back, his face a bit red. "You're up early," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

"It's a good day," she replied, squeezing him tighter. She felt his arm wrap around her waist. She looked up at him, eyes bright. "Let's go out and do something."

"Do what?" Adam smiled, trying to smooth out her bedhead with his hand. She shut her eyes, enjoying his gentle touch.

"I don't know," she murmured. "Something, anything. I just want to go out. Today's a good day."

"Check the garden?" he suggested.

Eve grimaced. "Something _fun_ and less depressing," she said. "Maybe the beach? Or the lake?"

"Since it stopped raining," Adam said, glancing out the window. "There might be mushrooms."

"Perfect!" Eve laughed, "They'll go well with the eggs."

"The eggs are almost ready though, they'd get cold."

"Tomorrow's eggs, then," Eve said, grabbing a handful of trauben fruit from a bowl on the table and heading for the door.

She stepped out into the sunlight, reveling in the warmth hitting her face. The rains were over, they were _finally_ over. The ground was still damp and muddy and soaking into her flats, and on some level Eve knew that she _would_ have to check the garden to see if anything had survived the deluge, but the rains were _over_ and the sky was _c__lear_ and color seemed to have finally returned to the world.

Eve waited, patiently, for someone else to make their return. Any minute now.

There, a flutter of wings, and Eve felt a small weight land on her head. "Hey!" she cried, "Get off me!"

She felt small talons digging into her scalp, harmless but still uncomfortable. "Is my hair a bird's nest?!" Eve whined. "Is that what you're trying to tell me? Alright, alright, I'll brush my hair! Oh come on, I just wanted to see you..." She shook her head, trying to dislodge her unwelcome passenger, but it hung on stubbornly. "Fiiiine," she conceded, reaching out an arm. The door opened on its own, and a hair brush floated directly into her waiting hand. "Will you let go now?"

No response, other than a fluttering of wings. Eve sighed. "I have to bribe you, don't I?" she asked, exasperated. She held up her other hand, filled with the round trauben. "Here, you greedy little thing," she laughed, "Now get off."

Another flutter of wings, and an emerald green songbird was now perched on her hand, wasting no time pecking at the fruit, inspecting it for any flaws. "Nice to see you too, Songbird," Eve said, grinning. "I'm glad you kept yourself dry."

She deposited the fruit onto a windowsill, if only to free her other hand to brush her hair as she had promised. Eve began the arduous task of trying to comb out the tangles of her lengthy hair, watching as the bird hopped to the trauben and dug in.

"There's more where that came from," Eve said, causing the bird to perk up in interest. "But not for free," Eve continued, and the bird drooped in disappointment so dramatically she nearly snorted with laughter. How could Adam keep being so skeptical about this? Her songbird friend was so obviously a forest spirit that it might as well have worn a sign around its neck.

"We're mushroom hunting today," Eve explained, as she tried to pick free a large knot in her hair that had somehow formed in the night. "You want to help? A trauben fruit for every mushroom, does that sound like a fair price?" Part of Eve wondered what her mother would think of her, negotiating with a child of Lord Held so casually.

Then again, if her mother were there at that moment, she would probably would've said something more along the lines of, _"Eve, my little starling, please fix your hair. You look like a witch."_

She softly mouthed the words to herself, bittersweet on her tongue, as the songbird paused, beak in the air, as it seemed to consider her offer. It then returned to pecking the trauben, which Eve had no idea how to interpret. She shrugged. "The offer still stands, I guess," she said, wincing in pain as she untangled another clump of hair with her brush. "You know," she smirked, "You better hope I leave some trauben for you, and not eat it all for-"

"Eve!" Adam called from inside. "Breakfast!"

"See you later, Songbird!" she giggled as she stepped back inside, the bird looking at her with what Eve could almost read as disbelief.

Sure, it was a bit mean of her, but the sight of the songbird landing on her shoulder as she and Adam stepped out the door an hour later made it worth it.

* * *

"Oh, I like this one," Adam knelt, putting down his baskets and pointing out a bright indigo and orange speckled mushroom at the base of a tree. "It has a great color scheme."

Eve fed the songbird on her shoulder another trauben fruit, shifting the two baskets on her arm. "Too bad it would probably kill us."

"This one too?" Adam sulked. "How come it's always the prettiest ones...?"

"Not always," Eve corrected. "There _are_ some pretty mushrooms that are safe to eat. Most colorful ones will kill you in minutes, but some are _delicious_ and won't make you _too_ sick. I think."

"Which ones?"

"I forgot!" Eve said, cheerfully.

"Thanks, that's very helpful," Adam deadpanned.

Eve snickered. "Well, it _is_ edible. Everything is. Once."

"Of course," Adam smirked back. "Maybe I _should_ try it," he joked, hovering his knife over the base of the mushroom. "It would be a shame to eat such a beautiful thing, but in the interests of experimentation-"

"Don't!" she squealed with laughter, pushing his arm away. He also started laughing, and the two descended into a playfight tug-of-war over the pocket knife, the chaos sending the songbird flying into the branches above. "If you get food poisoning _again,_" Eve said, "I'm not healing you this time!"

"Awww," Adam pouted. "But who will save me from certain death?" he laughed.

"I'll haul you into town and let _their_ shaman deal with you," Eve said, between fits of giggles. "I'll say, please, save my poor husband, who can't seem to stop putting everything into his mouth-"

"Hey, you can't fault me for being curious, not when I know the best, most beautiful shaman in the world is looking out for me," Adam smiled.

Eve was suddenly taken aback. Red-faced, she shut her eyes and clutched at his arm, shaking it as he laughed and nuzzled her hair. "Adaaaaaaaaaaaaaam..."

The songbird above them suddenly took off, distracting the two, and Eve saw it glide to the base of another tree a short distance away. "Found another!" Eve called to Adam, following it down to where an enormous yellow mushroom had sprouted. "And it's a big one!"

Adam's eyes widened as he reached them. "Oh, that _is_ huge," he said, leaning down to examine it. "And it doesn't look like it's too rotten..."

"Nice find!" Eve complemented the songbird, handing it another trauben fruit. However, the songbird didn't eat it immediately, hopping on her hand and ruffling its wings. "What, what's wrong?" Eve thought about it for a few seconds, the bird still waiting expectantly, when it hit her. She frowned. "No, I'm not giving you another one!"

That remark earned her a peck on the fingers. "Ow! Hey! I thought we had a deal!"

Another peck, more like a hard pinch that made Eve hiss with pain. "No, just because it's big doesn't mean I'm giving you extra!"

"Hey, Eve, I don't think this one is safe."

"What?" Eve looked away from the angry puffball of green feathers clinging to her hand. "What isn't- OW!"

"Oh, just give them the trauben already, Eve!" Adam chided. "I thought it was a _bad_ thing to anger the spirits."

"But Songbird is- oh, _alright_," Eve grumbled, reaching into her pocket. "Here, these are the last two I have, Songbird, now don't go-"

The bird didn't even wait for her to finish as it flew up into the forest canopy, carrying the fruit in its beak and talons. "Don't go eating them too fast!" Eve called after her.

"Eve..."

"What is it?" Eve sighed, finally turning her attention to Adam, who was kneeling by the tree.

Adam pointed at the mushroom, a flat cluster of yellow shelves that grew from the tree bark. "Does this look like a Levia's Wig to you? Or a False Sunshine?"

"Which was the poisonous one again?" Eve scratched her head, sitting next to him.

"The Levia's Wig, wasn't it-?" Adam blinked, "Wait, or was _that_ the safe one-?"

"No, the Dragon Wings mushrooms were the safe ones," Eve corrected, slowly sawing the mushroom off the tree bark with her own knife, careful to leave the mycelium behind. She turned it over. "Oh, it has gills. Not False Sunshine, then."

"Aren't Levia's Wig mushrooms supposed to be round?" Adam peeked over her shoulder. "The edges look a bit wavy to me."

Eve pulled the four baskets toward herself. One was what they agreed to call the "Won't Kill Us If We Eat It" basket, another was the "Won't Kill Us But Will Make Us Sick If We Eat It Right Away" basket, the third was the "Will _Definitely_ Kill Us If We Eat It But Can Be Used As A Medicine Ingredient" basket, and the last was simply "Not Sure".

She turned the mushroom over in her hand, unsure where to drop it. "They look round to me, though, vaguely round..." she said. "Dragon Wings are supposed to have white undersides. Does this look yellow or white to you?"

"It looks whitish-yellow," said Adam, very helpfully.

"Yellowish-white," said Eve.

Adam looked up. "Maybe we're not in the right light?"

"It's half an hour to the next clearing, Adam."

"So," Adam said, leaning back. "Is it going to kill us or not?"

"I don't know," Eve admitted. "I'll just put it in the 'Not Sure' baske- Hey! What are you doing?!" Small talons had suddenly grabbed at her twintail, the familiar bird pulling at it as it flapped its wings frantically. "Songbird, let go of me!"

"Eve..."

"Songbird, I told you, I don't have anymore trauben-"

"_Eve..._" Adam gripped her shoulder, his voice low and quavering. Eve blinked and looked up. He was pointing at something nearby, almost hidden in the dim forest light.

Eve's heart froze. It was a moose, a fully mature adult judging from the size of its antlers. It was grazing no more than 10 paces away from them, having wandered nearby without either of them noticing.

The songbird fled once more into the canopy. Slowly, Eve reached up to grip Adam's hand and squeezed it tightly.

With careful deliberation, Eve projected her magic outwards, making sure to surround herself and Adam. Eyes fixed on the moose, she focused on her intent. _Let the outside world believe that we are not here. To them, we cannot be seen. We cannot be heard._

Adam shivered as her magic washed over him. He leaned in close, barely raising his voice above a whisper. "Will it work? Will it work on...?"

Eve wasn't sure. Adrenaline had chased all thought out of her mind, keeping her focus on keeping up the spell, sweat beading on her forehead. Had her hypnosis ever worked on the mind of an animal? She wasn't sure, she couldn't remember...

"Let's go," she said, voice strained. "While we still can."

"Good idea," Adam agreed. He took his baskets and carefully rose to his feet, reaching out a hand to help Eve up, and-

A twig snapped.

The moose looked up, then stared directly at them. No one moved.

It began to click its teeth.

Adam instinctively backed up.

The moose lay its ears back, its hackles rising. It lowered its head and started to approach them.

"We should be running," Adam said. Eve wholeheartedly agreed.

The moose charged.

Eve swept up the remaining baskets from the forest floor and the two sprinted for their lives.

The moose followed, enormous and terrifying. It was taller than Adam, fast as a galloping horse and thrice as dangerous. Branches and briars tore at Eve's face and arms as they raced through the forest, holding onto Adam's hand for dear life, but the moose was rapidly closing the distance. There was simply no outrunning it.

"HERE!" Adam yelled, stopping at a tall tree with low branches. "CLIMB! HURRY!" He threw his baskets to the ground and practically leaped up the tree, scrambling to get as high as possible.

Eve had never climbed a tree so fast in her life. The moose was close, she could hear it come charging closer, but she was nowhere near high enough to escape the reach of its antlers.

Suddenly, Adam's hand reached down from above. "Grab on!" he shouted.

Eve held on tight, and with a herculean effort, was lifted onto the upper branches next to Adam just as the moose crashed through the undergrowth and right into the tree, its antlers scoring the bark.

The two of them caught their breaths, watching the moose back up and shake its head, stunned. Eve's heart was racing, she was gasping for air and there was a stitch in her side. She couldn't see the scratches on her face, but she could definitely feel them sting. Her arms were similarly scratched up, red welts already forming along her skin.

She was still holding onto Adam's hand. She looked up at him, and saw that he was just as torn up and exhausted as she was. Panting for breath, face scratched, a bruise that she had no idea where it came from forming on one cheek, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.

"Oh no, the mushrooms!" Adam cried.

Eve looked down. The moose was poking around their discarded baskets, grazing on all the safe mushrooms they had painstakingly gathered for the last few hours.

For a few moments, Eve watched the moose eat as if nothing had happened, and for some reason, Eve began to laugh. It was a deep belly laugh, ringing loud and long through the forest. She laughed, and laughed, and couldn't stop laughing.

Adam was staring at her, looking concerned. "Eve?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

Okay? She felt _great,_ she could say she felt almost _giddy._

Adam was probably expecting her to say something, but the way his eyes widened, he probably _wasn't_ expecting her to wrap her arms around his neck and press her lips against his.

She held the kiss for a long moment, and after they broke apart, giggled at the dazed look on Adam's face. She hugged him, and eventually, Adam hugged her back.

"Are you... are sure you're okay?" he asked, cupping her cheek.

"It's _fine,_ Adam. I'm fine. Just forget the mushrooms down there. We can always get more."

"It's just... I'm sorry, Eve," Adam apologized. "I thought today was supposed to be a good day..."

"Of course it's a good day!" Eve pulled back from him and grinned. "We're alive, aren't we?"

"Well... yes," he smiled. "I guess we are."

Eve started laughing again, and this time, Adam joined in, both laughing at the ridiculousness of what they had just gone through.

After the laughter died down, Adam went back to watching the moose, still grazing on their mushrooms. "When do you think it will go away?"

"Who knows?" Eve said, leaning against him.

"We could be stuck up here for the next few hours," Adam pointed out.

"Is that really so bad?" Eve asked, stretching her legs out across the branches. This close to the canopy, more sunlight was able to reach them compared to the forest floor, the cool wind still rustling through the treetops.

Adam paused. "Well," he admitted, leaning against her as they settled in for a long wait, "It _is_ nice up here."

* * *

They walked along the shoreline, the sky now golden with the setting sun.

The tide was coming in, and Eve couldn't stop herself from taking off her shoes and wandering towards the water's edge, enjoying the sensation of the waves of sea water rushing in and crashing against her legs and feet as they continued to walk south, closer to home.

Adam walked beside her, not as willing to get his feet wet but wanting to stay close to her all the same. He carried their baskets, not as full as they were earlier in the day, but still a respectable haul.

Eve grew entranced with the sun as it slowly began to dip below the horizon. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said.

"Yes," Adam answered. She turned, and saw that Adam was looking directly at her, and nowhere near the horizon. She blushed, wanting to change the subject.

"You've been quiet," she said. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Besides you?" he teased.

"Adaaaaaaaam..."

"Fine, fine, well..." he looked away for several moments. "Nothing, I've just been getting... a feeling."

"Good, or bad?" Eve asked.

"Not really good, but... not really bad either?" Adam pursed his lips. "It's just... a worried feeling. That something's going to happen."

"A moose attacked us today," Eve pointed out. "What _else_ could happen?"

Adam laughed. "Okay, true, but..." He stopped walking, and Eve stopped as well. He looked down for a moment, as if he were trying to gather his thoughts, but then sighed and motioned for them to keep walking. "It's just... a feeling, a very _strong_ feeling, that I can't explain. Does that make sense?"

"Not really," Eve said. "But... I think I kind of get what you mean."

Adam looked surprised. "Really?"

Eve looked back at the sun, now nearly swallowed by the ocean, the sky surrounding it a colorful smear of pinks and oranges and reds. "Today was a good day," she said. "And... I don't want this day to end. I don't know what it would be like tomorrow. I don't know how _I'll_ feel like tomorrow."

"All things come to an end, Eve," Adam said, gently.

"I _know_, but..." Eve frowned. "Does it really have to be this way? Can't this just go on forever? Without me ever having to feel bad ever again..." She stopped and stared at the horizon, the sun now fully set. "But that's just a dream, isn't it?" she said, her heart sinking. "Nothing but a delusion..."

She felt Adam hold her hand, squeezing it tightly. She looked at him, and together the two began to walk again.

"It might just be a dream, and all good things may end," Adam said, "but who ever said that they would never come again? Yesterday, after all those days of rain, did you imagine that today would be a good day?"

Eve shook her head.

"Right... so even if today is done, even if tomorrow is awful, and the next week, and all the months after... we'll just have to wait patiently, for the next good day to come around again. And it will come again, in the end."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Believe so? Probability _says_ so," Adam said, a knowing grin on his face.

Eve snorted with laughter, but eventually smiled back at him. "And we'll have each other until then, right? You'll be with me?"

"Of course I will."

The sky was fully dark by the time they reached the edge of the shoreline. As they turned to enter the forest again, the stars were just beginning to come out, much to Eve's delight. As she searched for and found her familiar stars, the three stars of the hunter's belt; the seven that formed the ladle; the north star, perpetually still in the sky no matter what the season; she felt Adam's hand intertwine more tightly with her own.

In that moment, with the stars above her and Adam beside her, Eve started to believe that everything was going to be alright.

And so Adam and Eve made their way home, guided by the glittering stars and the not-quite-full moon.

_**fin.**_


End file.
